About this project

I’ve had a passion for making pizza since grade school and learned how to make pizza from my older brother, who worked at a local pizzeria. My love for pizza grew while living in Brooklyn and being inspired by Lucali, Roberta’s, Sam’s, and other Brooklyn pizzerias. Trips to Italy further solidified my passion for simply made pizza with amazing ingredients and dough.

Utah pizza is still dominated by chains and is well below the national average of pizzerias per capita, creating an opportunity in Salt Lake’s growing food economy for an independent, high quality, pizzeria. We believe we can offer a great product that serves a specific niche to the Salt Lake City food scene. Quality/Artisanal/Traditional. We plan to go after a customer who wants premium, high quality, fresh ingredients. This includes a focus on thoughtfully sourcing ingredients – locally when possible. We want our brand to be associated with freshness, quality, artisan, sustainability and social responsibility. We are inspired by the classical and simple traditions of Neapolitan pizza. Our philosophy is very simple. We want to simply, as one of our Brooklyn inspirations Paulie Gee describes, “use really good ingredients on great bread.” Pizza done the right way is not a junk food, but a food you can feel good about eating every day.

Pizza Nono will be perfectly located in Salt Lake City’s 9th and 9th Neighborhood. One of Salt Lake City’s most walkable residential neighborhoods that has “lately been re-energized by an influx of young couples and families lured by its two-story bungalows and Victorian houses.” Pizza Nono will perfectly compliment the thriving business and residential community which already includes popular coffee shops, Middle Eastern and Thai restaurants, a yoga studio, local retailers, acclaimed restaurant Pago, new restaurant/bar East Liberty Tap House, classic Tower movie theater, as well as three local high schools and the University nearby.

The menu will be simple. 4 regular pizzas, a “pizza of the week”, two simple salads, and a seasonal side. We will be using a tap system to serve local ginger beer, kombucha, and other house sodas. We want the restaurant to feel cozy and inviting with a beautifully landscaped patio that opens to the community, but also want customers to be able to efficiently order carryout pizza to take on the go. Our pizza oven will reach temperatures above 900 degrees making it possible to cook a pizza in a couple of minutes. We are now close to opening, but want to launch this Kickstarter project to help engage the local community and give our neighbors an opportunity to be a part of this pizzeria.

Funds will be used to help us through the first few months of our opening including final construction, additional equipment, dishes, licensing fees and opening events. We are so excited about this project, and we hope you are too!

Risks and challenges

There are always many risks and challenges to opening a restaurant. We have already experienced delays in permitting and construction and will inevitably have other unforeseen challenges as we embark on opening our first pizzeria and restaurant.

What keeps us optimistic is the amazing neighborhood and location for the pizzeria and our dedication of bringing an amazing pizza to this community. We have already been through and tackled the challenges as they arise, and at this point we feel so close to achieving our goal.